


Spines and Needles

by a_big_apple



Series: and it's bright [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Coda, Gen, Post-Episode: s06e10 Prickly Pair, This family loves each other so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:14:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22261657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_big_apple/pseuds/a_big_apple
Summary: There's a long, painful stretch of silence. Or, near-silence; the house creaks wearily as its weight resettles around the gaping hole Cactus Steven left. He'll have to start cleaning up. Go to Little Homeschool and get Bismuth. Get all of the damn spines out of his skin and his pajamas and hisbed, where he just wants to curl up and hide until everything's okay again.A small coda to Prickly Pair, because I have so many feelings.
Series: and it's bright [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1619890
Comments: 21
Kudos: 207





	Spines and Needles

There's a long, painful stretch of silence. Or, near-silence; the house creaks wearily as its weight resettles around the gaping hole Cactus Steven left. He'll have to start cleaning up. Go to Little Homeschool and get Bismuth. Get all of the damn spines out of his skin and his pajamas and his _bed_ , where he just wants to curl up and hide until everything's okay again.

There's a faint glow behind him, and the familiar air-displacement sound of Pearl retrieving items from her gem. "Amethyst," she says, "if you could try to get all the ones on the floor? Garnet—” 

"I'll deal with upstairs," she says, a little tight, like Ruby and Sapphire are close to the surface.

The stairs creak; the bristles of a broom sweep listlessly across the floorboards. From the corner of his eye, Pearl appears. "Hold still, Steven," she says softly; the way she shapes his name is an endearment, and it makes him want to cry. With tweezers in hand she carefully plucks spines from his face, turns and tips his head with a finger under his chin to check his neck. She's cleared them off of herself, somehow—maybe shapeshifting, and it's still cool and new that she'll do that—and her face is a careful mask of concentration. She doesn't meet his eyes when he dares to look, but her hands are gentle as they've ever been, clearing spines from his arms and hands, pulling a lint brush from her gem to brush his pajamas and then a comb to shake them loose from his hair.

Amethyst sweeps around them, quiet, gathering the spines into avoidable piles and collecting the rubble around the busted out door. She doesn't meet his eyes either, but with Amethyst it feels like she's giving him space. Pearl, now silently plucking spines from the tops of his bare feet, is giving _herself_ space.

That's unfair, he knows, even as he thinks it. Pearl's emotions are always so close to the surface, but she's gotten better at regulating them. Or maybe she's just...happier, these days. He's not sure he knows when that happened.

Then she levers herself to her feet with a little hum, sending the tweezers back into her gem. "Don't move yet, let me get your shoes. There's still some spines on the floor."

"Pearl—" he starts, but it comes out choked and wet; he realizes he's crying when she finally looks at him, and her detached concentration melts into softness. Cautiously she reaches out, swipes the tears from his cheeks with her thumbs.

"It's all right, Steven," she says, calm and soft. "It's going to be all right."

"No—" he starts, and she nods her head.

"Yes." Steven hears the stairs creak again, and Amethyst's steady sweeping pauses. Pearl's face tips until her gem, warm like standing near a lamp, touches his forehead. "I love you, Steven. We love you, so much. No matter what. Okay?"

Amethyst's arms come around his waist, her cheek against his side; behind him, Garnet's hand falls on his hair. All at once he's exhausted, and when he sways a little Pearl gathers him into her arms. At last he lets the cactus blossom drop to the floor, allows himself be held. Even though he's grown almost as tall as her and probably twice as wide, he's sure Pearl could still lift him as easily as a child; Garnet certainly can. For a moment he wants them to, pick him up and tuck him into bed with a goodnight kiss or a quiet song. He feels a flash of shame for wanting it; then a flash of love for all the times he had it.

"Okay," he says into her shoulder. Amethyst squeezes him; Garnet's hand curls gently around the back of his head.

Pearl's hand clenches in his shirt. "You're ours," she murmurs into his ear, sharp as a threat, warm as a promise. _Our little boy_ , he hears, though she didn't say it. "Our Steven," she tells him instead. " _No matter what_."


End file.
